West Branch Come Hell or High Water

The First Annual Fly Fishing Festival and Film Tour
(April 16th, 17th)
Free Admission Open To Public(film festival does require paid tickets)

Event Introduction

“Hell or High Water” is a two day annual fly fishing festival and film tour to be hosted at West Branch Angler. The idea is to celebrate the Catskills, beginning of Spring and a new fly fishing season. We have been working closely with the major fly fishing manufacturers and local business’s to bring something for everyone. This will be an event to remember mark the dates in your calendar today.
Quick Links

The Fly Fishing Film Tour : In just it’s fourth year, The Fly Fishing Film Tour has

become the fishing entertainment event of the year. The Film Tour will be seen in well over 80 cities in 2010 and will showcase some of the best independent outdoor film makers. The goal of the Fly Fishing Film Tour is to energize the industry and inspire film makers to create new cutting edge films to both entertain and educate outdoor enthusiasts. TICKETS ON SALE NOW HERE

Sage Casting Analyzer: You’re waist-deep and struggling upstream when you see the rise in a foam line, 30 feet into the wind. The perfect cast would come in handy about now… The Sage Casting Analyzer records the essential components of your fly cast-such as symmetry, arc, smoothness, and speed- and then compares that data to the cast of a Sage Expert. The result? You get hard stats on how you can perfect the art of fly casting.

9 Hole Men’s & Women’s Fly Casting Contest: John Stacey of Cortland Lines will be setting up a 9 hole problem area casting course. The course’s nine holes will each highlight different problems that anglers face on the river. A prize will be awarded to each division, this is a lot of fun and a good way to work off the rust on your cast from winter.

5 Stand Shooting Competition : Five Stand is very similar to Sporting Clays in that a wide variety of targets are thrown. No two five-stands are exactly alike. There are five “stands” or stations to shoot from. Participants shoot in turn at each of the 5 stands and various combinations of targets are thrown from the traps. There will be two rounds one on Friday one on Saturday and the award ceremony will take place right before the film tour.

Orvis Hydros Test Cast : Tom Zemianek of The Orvis Company will have the full line of the new Hydros fly rods available for casting. Winner of the Midcurrent.com 2009 Best of Show award, our new Hydros rods use the same graphite and scrim technologies as the award winning Helios rods, and at a lower pricepoint than the premier competitive rods. Sign up for the test cast and get get a free Orvis Hydros hat.

Test Float Freedom Hawk & Outcast Ponton Boats : At Outcast, they believe access is everything. Any angler can choose to fish from the bank, but wouldn’t you rather be in the game than on the sidelines? When you purchase one of thier float tubes or boats, you get worry-free access so you can concentrate on fishing. We will have a short 1 mile track where you can test out a new boats how they were meant to be…. on the river.

Spey Casting Clinic With Scott Fly Rod Pro Staff Rick Kustich : Rick Kustich is co-author of the acclaimed book Fly Fishing for Great Lakes Steelhead and has fly fished for steelhead in the Great Lakes region for almost thirty years. He is a writer, photographer, and fly tyer. He has written three other fly fishing books, is a regular contributor to both national and regional publications, and recently introduced his first DVD.

“The Beauty of Fly Fishing ” : Austin “Mac” Francis, fly-fishing historian and avid angler, will demonstrate fly casting, show examples of the delicate feather-and-steel confections fly fishers use to fool their prey, and take you on a photo journey to some of the world’s beautiful rivers where the sport is pursued – Montana, England, New Zealand, and in our own backyard, the Catskill rivers where American fly fishing came of age. Signed copies of Francis’s acclaimed book Land of Little Rivers will be available after his talk.

“Getting The Most & The Best “: Over the past four decades, Art Lee has earned a reputation as the consummate writer and angler. His presentation “Getting The Most & The Best” focus’s on reading water, proper approaches to feeding fish, the importance of accuracy and using the correct tackle. He will also be on hand to sign on of his many books such as the Lore of Trout Fishing & Tying and Fishing The Riffling Hitch.

“Fly Fishing England”: John Shaner of Hardy USA will be putting on a beautiful slide show presentation followed by Q & A about fly fishing techniques and destinations in England.

Featured Artist Cole Johnson: Cole Johnson has lived in upstate New York his entire life and now resides in Deposit, New York, a small town in the Catskill Mountain region. Hunting, fishing, and spending time in “the woods” have been the preferred activities most of his life. Favorite subjects include the species he is intimately acquainted with in the field – the white-tailed deer, trout, turkeys, hunting dogs and waterfowl.